"Hieronymus" wrote:...although only 6 out of the 21 entrants so far speak English as their first language

I guess you are still providing French and German translations so players of those languages can use their native language. So where does this leave others, non English, French, German speakers?

My point is if a non-English speaking person is playing your scenarios they will miss a lot because of the language barrier, both in fun aspect and in understanding what is needed/required to be done. Sorry I have to pass yours because of this, since they are in a way too much based on language things compared to many other designs on CBC.

(Remember what goonsquad who is a native speaker of English just said: The tutorial instructions and the repeating messages seem to be ambiguous. I hope you take this in the sense I'm trying to say it, not as a criticism but an opinion why I am not playing your games any more.)

Yes it is true that we have French and German translations, but they only exist because players have kindly volunteered to produce them for us. Ideally I would like translations to be available to all players but sadly that is not possible.

As you say, our style of scenario (which seeks to take full advantage of the scripting possibilities C4 offers, and tell a "story" through the messaging system) does not suit everyone. I do not have a problem with that. But I do this on a voluntary basis and invest a lot of my personal time into designing these scenarios; I would not at all be interested in creating the more "traditional" style of C4 scenario, and would quit as a designer if I had to "stick to tradition".

That said, we DID put in a HUGE amount of effort to make the scenario instructions as clear as possible - which is why I find goonsquad's comments here particularly disappointing. At the end of the day we are only human

Hiero

Last edited by Hieronymus on Sun Nov 02, 2008 1:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I can almost guarantee that something is up with either the gladiator guild(s?) and/or perhaps a rating level? Culture coverage is also important in this. Not just entertainment coverage. Could be a shrine, a barber, something. Have you checked all this Ampora? Please don't give up - it's very do-able, just sometimes it can be difficult to keep an eye on six gazzillion things at once. I've run the same problem myself quite a few times on this map. Persistence always pays though! Good luck!

Language barriers are always difficult and it's always hard to find more people to translate. We're very lucky to have the volunteers that we do have who spend a decent amount of their time in painstakingly going through the game files and translating all the messages, especially if and when exact translations do not work. We're very grateful to these people who do this and are always ecstatic when someone volunteers to translate any scenario into any language. As this is quite the international community it's difficult to know that by only having these three languages available we are really shutting out a lot of players but we can only do so much.

And on another note. Back to the scenario itself...
Please always post or PM Hieronymus (as lead designer) and then/or myself (as inspirational motivator) with any questions. We're always happy to try and help a player through a troublesome spot.

Last edited by aramann on Sun Nov 02, 2008 3:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

As always it's a great scenario and I'll certainly make it through. I will explain what I mean when it's over. I can personally attest to the amount of time and effort is required to create a scenario like this in C4.

Grotewittebeer is desperately struggling to complete the Labors of Herculaneum on the insane level, but hope that he will succeed is fading. There is not much time left, so it will be possible that Aramann and Hieronymus won't see an entry from Grotewittebeer. They should know that this doesn't mean Grotewittebeer didn't enjoy it! On the contrary, Labors of Herculaneum provided him with many hours game-playing pleasure! Thank you!

Grotewittebeer has almost no problems with the english language in Labors of Herculaneum. Dutch is his native tongue. The story in Labors of Herculaneum is great. The instructions and messages are clear. Grotewittebeer hopes Aramann and Hieronymus won't bother too much about language-barriers, because he is convinced that in the house of every non-English-, non-German- and non-French- native speaking CaesarIV-fan the dictionary is not far away from the computer.

grotewittebeer, we would be pleased to see ANY entry from you. I hope you succeed!
Thanks for your kind words.
And dearest Sir Frog... I am literally jumping in my seat waiting for your Revenge Of the Market Ladies (on CBC in C4 AND C3!!!!) in which I will conquer and smash down the question of those idiot savants once and for all...